Christian Warfare

Yesterday, news broke around the world that ISIS had kidnapped at least 90 Assyrian Christians from their peaceful villages. Since that time, the estimates have ranged from 90 to 285, with CNN reporting 150. These men, women, and children were not involved in the military efforts of the international community and the Kurdish forces, but ISIS does not care about the rules of war. ISIS will probably kill each and every one of those kidnapped Christians. They may kill them as they killed the Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya, by beheading, or they may crucify the children as they have previously done in Syria and Iraq. They will probably attempt to outdo their prior barbarism.

God has given the governments of the world the power of the sword, and I pray that He would stir them to further action to destroy ISIS. I pray that God would intervene in this conflict and bring about victory over ISIS. But I also pray for the members of ISIS. It is so easy to hate them, but we are called to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us (and those who persecute our brothers and sisters in Christ). I pray that they would see the error of their ways, that they would cry out to God in full repentance. I pray that just as God called Saul out from the faction persecuting the new Church and made him into one of the most powerful advocates for Christ in his time, God would call out from the midst of ISIS one who will be His voice in the midst of this darkness. Patrick Vaughn, Legal counsel for the American Family Association, posted a blog yesterday encouraging Christians to pray Psalm 83 over the situation in the Middle East, that God would bring His judgment and that through that judgment men and women would know and seek Him.

How do we, as individual Christians, respond? First, we do not respond in violence. We do not respond with vigilante justice. God has given the power of the sword to government, not to individuals. In the midst of a situation where the government cannot function to respond, we can and should defend the lives of others, but this is not one of those times. We respond with prayer. Psalm 83 is a good place to start. Prayer for the Christians being persecuted is critical. As I said in Sunday's blog post, prayer is our best weapon. As individuals, it is our only weapon to respond to the systemic problems in our world.

As I struggled to let go of my hatred of ISIS, I came across this hymn, Christian Warfare, written in 1910 by Frederick L. Rowe. I had never heard (or heard of) it before, but it struck me in how accurately it conveyed how Christian Warfare is waged: by trusting in God's judgment with no fear of death because death is not the end. Death is when we are free from the constraints of this world and meet our Savior face to face. Our enemies are not flesh and blood. Our enemies are not the human fighters of ISIS, but the powers behind them. They celebrate their victory when they kill us, but it is in our deaths that they are fully defeated.

Arouse, ye Christians, stand united
In this holy warfare,
With shoulder touching shoulder, march;
Go forth to do and dare.

Then stand ye bravely, know no fear;
God promised thro’ His Son
That greater vict’ries yet are ours,
If faith doth lead us on.

Let nothing daunt—no foes affright,
God’s brave ones never waver;
We’ll win the day and plant the cross;
Sweet rest comes after labor.

Refrain

Sleep not nor slumber—e’er on guard,
We’ll meet the foe advancing;
Each scar and stripe more honor gains;
Our coming joys enhancing.

Refrain

E’en down to death, if God should lead,
To serve the cause of Jesus;
All earthly praise cannot compare
With glories God will give us.

Refrain

(Public Domain)